CarL1 Myrtle Beach Pelicans

Myrtle Beach Pelicans: Game Notes, June 30 vs. Potomac

Published on June 30, 2018 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Myrtle Beach Pelicans News Release


The Myrtle Beach Pelicans start a four-game series with the Potomac Nationals in Saturday's 6:05 contest from TicketReturn.Com Field at Pelicans Ballpark. RHP Erich Uelmen (1-0, 5.06 ERA) makes the start for the Birds against P-Nats LHP Matthew Crownover (3-6, 5.27 ERA). Television coverage begins at 6 p.m. on The CW21 and MiLB.tv. A radio broadcast starts at 5:50 p.m. on MyrtleBeachPelicans.com/Broadcast, the MiLB First Pitch app and TuneIn.

MYRTLE BEACH SWEPT BY BUIES CREEK

The Buies Creek Astros blanked the Myrtle Beach Pelicans 2-0 in Friday's contest to sweep the Birds in a five-games set from TicketReturn.Com Field at Pelicans Ballpark. Abraham Toro blasted a solo home run in the first inning, and the score remained 1-0 until the eighth. Osvaldo Duarte then crushed an opposite field shot to put the margin at 2-0. Abdiel Saldana pitched five shutout innings to earn the win before yielding to Patrick Sandoval, who tossed four scoreless frames for his first save. Cory Abbott allowed just one run on three hits in six innings, striking out seven. Jose Paulino surrendered one tally in his three frames out of the bullpen.

BAD NEWS BIRDS

From May 23 through June 10, Myrtle Beach won 15 of 17 games. However, the Pelicans have followed that up with 15 losses in 17 contests to plunge nine games below .500, their low-water mark of the season. The Birds, who were just swept in a five-game series for the first time in recorded club history (through 2005), have dropped six games in a row to match their season-long skid. Myrtle Beach has not suffered a seven-game losing streak since falling in eight consecutive contests from May 25-31, 2013. Meanwhile, the Birds have also lost six consecutive home games for the first time since 2014. The Pelicans have not fallen in seven straight home games since 2009.

MY HEART'S A MONASTERIO

Myrtle Beach infielder Andruw Monasterio has reached base multiple times in 12 contests during his 20-game on-base streak, which is the longest active run in the Carolina League. Monasterio's on-base streak is the longest by a Pelican since David Bote concluded the 2016 season by reaching in 27 straight contests. Over these last 20 contests, the native of Caracas in Venezuela is 26-for-71 (.366/.438/.465) with two doubles, one triple, one home run, seven RBIs and nine walks. After slashing just .241/.313/.287 (75 wRC+) in a brief stint at the High-A level last year, Monasterio is hitting .281/.371/.357 (112 wRC+) this season. Part of his success is a better approach at the plate; after walking in 5.2 percent of his plate appearances in 2016 and 8.3 percent last year, Monasterio is posting a career-best 11.8 percent walk rate in 2018.

EVERY STORM RUNS OUT OF RAIN

Myrtle Beach was shut out Friday by Buies Creek, the first time the Birds have been blanked in consecutive contests since Lynchburg and Carolina did so on July 24-25, 2015. The Pelicans have failed to score in five of their nine second-half games, and in six of their last 17 contests. The club has plated a grand total of 29 runs over this 17-game stretch (1.7 per game), tallying three runs or fewer in 15 of those contests. As a team over the last 17 games, Myrtle Beach is posting a batting line of .184/.265/.240 (483 AB, 89 H, 17 2B, 2 3B, 2 HR, 50 BB, 3 HBP). To put things in perspective, Arizona right-handed pitcher Zack Greinke is a career .223/.265/.320 batter in 446 major league games.

TURN THE CALENDAR, PLEASE

The month of June has been unkind to Pelicans hitters. As a team, Myrtle Beach is batting .215/.285/.295 (.579 OPS), scoring a grand total of 76 runs. This marks the second-lowest scoring month in recorded club history, which dates back through the 2005 campaign. In April of 2015, the Pelicans mustered just 71 runs. However, the Birds played in just 19 games that month, meaning they scored 3.7 runs per game. Over the 26 games this June, Myrtle Beach has tallied just 2.9 runs per game, meaning on a rate basis, this is the lowest scoring month since at least the 2005 season.

POWER OUTAGE

From the 2014 through 2017 seasons, Myrtle Beach finished every campaign in the top half of the Carolina League in home runs. In fact, the Pelicans clubbed a total of 368 long balls, an average of 92 per year. However, the Birds are on pace for just 60 bombs in 2018, which would be the fewest in a single season in Pelicans history. Entering play on Saturday, Myrtle Beach has gone 10 games in a row without hitting a dinger, their longest drought of the season. D.J. Wilson's leadoff homer in the bottom of the first inning in game two of a doubleheader on June 16 was the Birds' last roundtripper, meaning the club's homerless drought extends 85 innings.

PELICAN POINT

Over the last five games, the Birds' bullpen has ceded four runs, three earned, on 11 hits in 18.1 innings for a 1.47 ERA.

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